Viking Eggeling (21 October 1880,
Lund – 19 May 1925,
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
) was a Swedish
avant-garde
The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical ...
artist and filmmaker connected to
dada
Dada () or Dadaism was an art movement of the European avant-garde in the early 20th century, with early centres in Zürich, Switzerland, at the Cabaret Voltaire (in 1916). New York Dada began c. 1915, and after 1920 Dada flourished in Pari ...
ism,
Constructivism
Constructivism may refer to:
Art and architecture
* Constructivism (art), an early 20th-century artistic movement that extols art as a practice for social purposes
* Constructivist architecture, an architectural movement in Russia in the 1920s a ...
, and
abstract art and was one of the pioneers in
absolute film
Non-narrative film is an aesthetic of cinematic film that does not narrate, or relate "an event, whether real or imaginary". It is usually a form of art film or experimental film, not made for mass entertainment.
Narrative film is the dominant ae ...
and
visual music. His 1924 film ''
Diagonal-Symphonie'' is one of the seminal
abstract film
Abstract may refer to:
* ''Abstract'' (album), 1962 album by Joe Harriott
* Abstract of title a summary of the documents affecting title to parcel of land
* Abstract (law), a summary of a legal document
* Abstract (summary), in academic publishi ...
s in the history of
experimental cinema
Experimental film or avant-garde cinema is a mode of filmmaking that rigorously re-evaluates cinematic conventions and explores non-narrative forms or alternatives to traditional narratives or methods of working. Many experimental films, parti ...
.
Biography
Early career
At the age of sixteen, the orphaned Eggeling moved to Germany to pursue an artistic career. He studied art history in
Milan
Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...
from 1901 to 1907, supporting himself with work as a bookkeeper. From 1907 to 1911, he taught Art at the Hochalpines Lyceum in Zuoz/Institut Engiadina (today
Lyceum Alpinum Zuoz
Lyceum Alpinum Zuoz is an international boarding school in Zuoz, near St.Moritz in Switzerland. Founded in 1904, it is located in the upper part of the alpine village in the area of Surmulins. There are around 300 pupils, including 220 in the bo ...
) in Switzerland. He lived in Paris from 1911 to 1915, where he was acquainted with
Amedeo Modigliani,
Hans Arp,
Léopold Survage
Léopold Frédéric Léopoldowitsch Survage (31 July 1879 – 31 October 1968) was a French painter of Finnish origin. Trained in Moscow, he identified with the Russian avant-garde before moving to Paris, where he shared a studio with Amedeo Mod ...
and other artists of the time. At this point his art was influenced by
Cubism, but soon grew more abstract, and in the years 1915–1917, influenced more specifically by the ''Rythmes colorés'' of Survage, he started making sketches on scrolls, or "picture rolls" as he would call them, that he later made into his abstract films ''
Horizontal-Vertikal Messe'' (now lost) and ''Diagonal-Symphonie''.
Zurich & Dada
In Zurich in 1918, he re-connected with Hans Arp and took part in several
Dada
Dada () or Dadaism was an art movement of the European avant-garde in the early 20th century, with early centres in Zürich, Switzerland, at the Cabaret Voltaire (in 1916). New York Dada began c. 1915, and after 1920 Dada flourished in Pari ...
activities, befriending
Marcel Janco
Marcel Janco (, ; common rendition of the Romanian name Marcel Hermann Iancu ; 24 May 1895 – 21 April 1984) was a Romanian and Israeli visual artist, architect and art theorist. He was the co-inventor of Dadaism and a leading exponent of Const ...
,
Richard Huelsenbeck
Carl Wilhelm Richard Hülsenbeck (aka Charles R. Hulbeck) (23 April 189220 April 1974) was a German writer, poet, and psychoanalyst born in Frankenau, Hessen-Nassau who was associated with the formation of the Dada movement.
Life and work
Huel ...
,
Sophie Taeuber
Sophie Henriette Gertrud Taeuber-Arp (; 19 January 1889 – 13 January 1943) was a Swiss artist, painter, sculptor, textile designer, furniture and interior designer, architect, and dancer.
Born in 1889 in Davos, and raised in Trogen, Switzerla ...
, and the other dadaists connected to the
Cabaret Voltaire. In 1919 he also joined the group ''
Das Neue Leben
Das or DAS may refer to:
Organizations
* Dame Allan's Schools, Fenham, Newcastle upon Tyne, England
* Danish Aviation Systems, a supplier and developer of unmanned aerial vehicles
* Departamento Administrativo de Seguridad, a former Colombian ...
'' ("New Life"), that was based in
Basel
, french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese
, neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS ...
and featured Marcel Janco, Hans Arp, Sophie Taeuber,
Augusto Giacometti
Augusto Giacometti (16 August 1877 – 9 June 1947) was a Swiss painter from Stampa, Graubünden, cousin of Giovanni Giacometti who was the father of Alberto, Diego and Bruno Giacometti. He was a prominent as a painter in the Art Nouvea ...
, and others. The group supported an educational approach to modern art, coupled with
socialist
Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...
ideals and Constructivist aesthetics. In its
art manifesto
An art manifesto is a public declaration of the intentions, motives, or views of an artist or artistic movement. Manifestos are a standard feature of the various movements in the modernist avant-garde and are still written today. Art manifestos ...
, the group declared its ideal of "rebuild
ngthe human community" in preparation for the end of
capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit. Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, price system, priva ...
. In the same year Eggeling was co-founder of the similar group ''
Artistes Radicaux'' ("Radical Artists"), a more political section of the Neue Leben group. During this time, in 1918,
Tristan Tzara
Tristan Tzara (; ; born Samuel or Samy Rosenstock, also known as S. Samyro; – 25 December 1963) was a Romanian and French avant-garde poet, essayist and performance artist. Also active as a journalist, playwright, literary and art critic, comp ...
introduced him to
Hans Richter, with whom he would work intimately for a couple of years, and in 1919 the two of them left Switzerland for Germany. Richter later wrote that "The contrast between us, which was that between method and spontaneity, only served to strengthen our mutual attraction...for three years we marched side by side, although we fought on separate fronts."
Berlin
In Germany his first stop was Berlin, where he met with
Raoul Hausmann
Raoul Hausmann (July 12, 1886 – February 1, 1971) was an Austrian artist and writer. One of the key figures in Berlin Dada, his experimental photographic collages, sound poetry, and institutional critiques would have a profound influence on ...
,
Hannah Höch
Hannah Höch (; 1 November 1889 – 31 May 1978) was a German Dada artist. She is best known for her work of the Weimar period, when she was one of the originators of photomontage. Photomontage, or fotomontage, is a type of collage in which the p ...
and other radical artists. He here also joined the ''
Novembergruppe
The November Group (german: Novembergruppe) was a group of German expressionist artists and architects. Formed on 3 December 1918, they took their name from the month of the German Revolution.
The group was led by Max Pechstein and César Klein ...
'' ("November Group"), a radical political group that featured many artists connected to Dada,
Bauhaus
The Staatliches Bauhaus (), commonly known as the Bauhaus (), was a German art school operational from 1919 to 1933 that combined crafts and the fine arts.Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 4th edn., 200 ...
and Constructivism. After moving to
Klein-Kölzig with Richter, he continued his experiments with "picture rolls". These scrolls were sequences of painted images on long rolls of paper that investigate the transformation of geometrical forms and could be up to 15 meters in length. As they were to be "read" from left to right, this soon evolved into cinematographic experimentation on film stock. In 1920, Eggeling began producing his first film, ''Horizontal-Vertikal-Messe'', based on a "picture roll" containing approximately 5000 images. In 1921, he ends his collaboration with Richter and postpones his work on ''Horizontal-Vertikal-Messe''. In 1923 he instead collaborates with
Erna Niemeyer and works on Diagonal-Symphonie, a synthesis of image, rhythm, movement and music, created from series of black sheets of paper with cut-out geometrical shapes. This film was completed in 1924 and shown for the first time in November the same year. Its first public screening was in Berlin in May 1925, at the film program "Der absolute Film", arranged by the Novembergruppe. 16 days later, Eggeling died of blood poisoning.
Gallery
Symphonie diagonale (1924).webm, '' Diagonal-Symphonie'' (1924)
Viking Eggeling, 1924.jpg, Viking Eggeling, 1924.
Viking Eggeling.jpg, Viking Eggeling ca 1925.
Viking Eggeling Generalbass der Malerei.jpg, 1918.
Viking Eggeling mid-section.jpg, 1921.
Viking Eggeling Horizontal-vertical orchestra.jpg, 1921.
Viking Eggeling Diagonal Symphonie 2.jpg, 1923.
Viking Eggeling Partie des Horizontal-vertikalorchesters.jpg, "Basse générale de la peinture. Extension" Lithography (1919) [De Stijl, vol. 4, nr. 7 (July 1921): facing p. 112.]
References
External links
Louise O'Konor, Viking Eggeling, 1880–1925, Artist and Filmmaker: Life and Work, translated by Catherine G. Sundström and Anne Libby, Stockholm, Almqvist and Wiksell, 1971 (pdf)*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Eggeling, Viking
1880 births
1925 deaths
Swedish artists
Swedish animators
Dada
Abstract animation
Swedish experimental filmmakers
Swedish expatriates in Germany